Racks to hold and display packaged products in the fastener industry are known, both with horizontal and sloped or angled shelves. Shelves that are angled downwards or toward the viewer or customer are also known, and are designed in this manner to allow the remaining boxes or packages to slide forward as the first container in the row is removed by a worker or customer.
Carton flow racks of this type provide excellent storage density combined with picking efficiency. No power source is required, and because frontage per item is greatly reduced, restocking and picking can be done much faster. In fact, one person can do the work of three or four. Typically static shelving: pickers spend only 15% of their time doing productive work. It has been found that with gravity carton flow, pickers spend 85% of their time doing productive work. A gravity carton flow system may cost a little more than conventional shelving but it cuts labor costs drastically. This type of racking is commonly used by retailers such as Home Depot and Lowes. Examples of a system which allows the gravity flow system to be allied to conventional shelving frame work is shown in Canadian Patent 2453273 entitled SHELVING DISPLAY RACK which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,689.
Products for shelving of this type are commonly packaged in square or rectangular shaped boxes or containers to be place on the shelf. In some cases, heavily loaded boxes may bind or stick to the shelf material thus preventing the self feeding system form operating.